Life, Death, Ethics, and Subject: A Controversial Exhibition of Corpses
Bouvier-Müh, Christine
Life, Death, Ethics, and Subject: A Controversial Exhibition of Corpses - 2011.
66
Recent events show that our relationship with the idea of “life” has changed. The exhibition “Our Body/A corps ouvert,” initially open to the public, then banned, was largely debated in the media. Presented as “artistic” and “educational,” this exhibition showing corpses and plasticized organs has already received wide acclaim in numerous countries, where crowds rush to see and be close to the corpse, elevated to the ranks of an object of contemplation. By taking death out of the social sphere, we have inevitably changed our behavior as living beings over the last century. In a social context where individualism is characterized by an absence of belonging (in Gauchet’s words), we will introduce here the issue of the subject’s place, which is always necessarily forgotten and eclipsed in scientific research relying on quantitative methods.
Life, Death, Ethics, and Subject: A Controversial Exhibition of Corpses - 2011.
66
Recent events show that our relationship with the idea of “life” has changed. The exhibition “Our Body/A corps ouvert,” initially open to the public, then banned, was largely debated in the media. Presented as “artistic” and “educational,” this exhibition showing corpses and plasticized organs has already received wide acclaim in numerous countries, where crowds rush to see and be close to the corpse, elevated to the ranks of an object of contemplation. By taking death out of the social sphere, we have inevitably changed our behavior as living beings over the last century. In a social context where individualism is characterized by an absence of belonging (in Gauchet’s words), we will introduce here the issue of the subject’s place, which is always necessarily forgotten and eclipsed in scientific research relying on quantitative methods.
Réseaux sociaux